Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU), in collaboration with Brawijaya University, has developed a hydrogel based on food waste. The innovation is capable of purifying water from heavy metals and absorbing up to 70% of harmful substances, according to the press service of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.
The hydrogel was created using ultrasonic extraction. After that, the resulting extract in the form of a dry powder was mixed with a crosslinker.
Polysaccharides from bananas, apples, and oranges were used in the development of the material. It has high porosity and water absorption capacity.
The hydrogel was tested using two methods. In the first case, it was placed in contaminated water, where about 2 grams of material were required to purify one liter. The adsorption time was one hour.
In the second method, the hydrogel was used in a column through which contaminated water was passed. This allowed up to 20 ml of water to be purified per minute. Both methods demonstrated high efficiency.
We took water containing heavy metals - lead, cadmium, chromium, arsenic, mercury, and cobalt - of varying concentrations (from 50 to 300 mg). The results showed that, regardless of the amount of harmful substances and the composition of the water, the hydrogel is capable of cleaning the liquid from 70% of metals.
Scientists plan to study the ability of the development to remove heavy metals from contaminated waters in the Tomsk region and on the island of Java in Indonesia. The innovation will be used in the creation of a sorption column based on hydrogels. The efficiency of hydrogel recovery and desorption will be compared with other solid adsorbents.
Earlier, www1.ru reported that a new filter was developed in Novosibirsk.
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